Smart Air Blast Mini review

Smart Air’s story is one of humble beginnings. It all started in 2013 when founder Thomas Talhelm was a student in Beijing, working on his PhD. 

Air pollution is an ongoing issue in Beijing, mainly due to smog, traffic pollution, coal burning and sandstorms. This led Talhelm to want to buy an air purifier, but he was shocked to find the cost of air purifiers was way outside his budget.

Talhelm decided to take matters into his own hands. 

He solved his problem at a fraction of the cost by simply strapping a HEPA filter to a fan. When he posted his results online on his blog, Particle Counting, he started to receive positive feedback and questions from folks wanting to do the same.

And so, Smart Air was born. Initially, they focused on selling DIY kits (a box fan, a HEPA filter and a strap) and hosting workshops in Beijing to teach people how to build their own air purifiers.

Over time, Smart Air took the plunge and released its own line of no-nonsense, affordable air purifiers. That’s when units like the Blast Mini were introduced into the market.

The Blast Mini MkII is the second version of the Blast Mini. When designing the MkII, Smart Air made improvements to the original MkI design. They redesigned the air outlet to increase its airflow from 1200 to 1400 m3/hr, got rid of the metal wire guard and introduced hand twist screws to make it easier to remove the pre-filter, and upgraded the cardboard frame of the HEPA filter to make it lighter and more environmentally friendly.

In this review, I will walk you through the results of our performance tests, including how well the Blast Mini cleans the air, how loud (or quiet!) it is, how much money you will need to spend every year to keep it running, and how it’s like to live with it.

The lowdown on the Smart Air Blast Mini

If you want a quick summary, these are my main likes and dislikes for the Blast Mini.

Right, let’s find out if the Blast Mini is the right air purifier for you.

The best Blast Mini feature: it is powerful yet quiet

Outstanding air cleaning speed that doesn’t disturb you.

The Smart Air Blast Mini has a high-performance motor that moves air through the filters a lot faster than every other air purifier I have tested. But here’s the thing: it is super quiet, too.

After our performance tests, the Blast Mini took the #1 spot as the fastest unit at cleaning the air (15 minutes, according to our PurpleAir Zen sensor) and the #1 spot as the quietest large air purifier (56.3 dB at top speed). 

Have a listen for yourself:

The “Mini” that is not so mini

No more plastic — you can now choose this metal beast with wheels and a one-dial control.

The Smart Air Blast Mini’s body is fully made of metal. This material will stand the test of time and is also a far more sustainable option compared to the plastic body of every other air purifier on the market.

Despite all odds, the metal body is actually quite stylish—mainly because of the beautiful front plate. Upon closer inspection, you can see that these cutaways are carefully polished to ensure there are no sharp metal edges anywhere in sight.

The front plate is tightly secured by a metal top plate, which can be easily removed so you can access the filters. I say easily but be wary of the weight of each component of this air purifier, as everything is made of metal:

This is the part of the review where I clarify that the Blast Mini is not mini in size at all. The ‘Mini’ in the name has been added in relation to size compared to the Smart Air Blast (the big brother of the Blast Mini), which is double the height.

For reference, I took a photo of the Blast Mini next to the popular Levoit Vital 200S just to show you how big this device is:

The good news is that, unlike other large air purifiers like the Blueair Blue Pure 211+ or the Levoit Core 600S, the Blast Mini has high-quality, lockable wheels that allow you to move the unit from room to room. 

That said, the size makes complete sense when you realize how powerful this air purifier is. I will go through our performance test results further down in this review, but I can tell you now that this thing is IMPRESSIVE.

Moving on, let me show you one of my favorite things about the Blast Mini: its minimalist control panel.

Do you see the black dial in the picture below? That’s it. That’s your control panel.

There are three speeds to choose from. Simply turn the dial to select which speed you want, and voilà.

The downside of the Blast Mini is the lack of smart functions or app capabilities. I generally prefer air purifiers with Auto Mode and on-board air quality sensors, but I’m also a smart home geek who understands that these IoT features don’t equal better air cleaning performance.

Smart Air believes that air purifiers should concentrate on their basic function without the need for bells and whistles, and they have designed a device that perfectly makes this point.

A large, long-lasting H13 HEPA filter

The filter is the most important part of any air purifier, and the Blast Mini does not disappoint.

Smart Air made it their mission to have the best HEPA filter in the market by testing different filters in order to find the highest-performing option to match their powerful fan. They decided on an H13 (medical grade) HEPA filter, which removes 99.95% of particles like dust, pollen, pet dander, bacteria and viruses.

Another thing worth mentioning is that the HEPA filter in the Blast Mini is huge, measuring 57 x 57 cm (23 x 23 inches). 

Just to put this into perspective, check out how much larger the filter looks next to the filter in the Levoit Core 200S — the Blast Mini HEPA filter is double the size of the Vital 200S filter!

Unlike other air purifiers, which need their HEPA filters replaced every six months, the Blast Mini’s filter can last up to 13 months.

In addition to the HEPA filter, the Blast Mini comes with a pre-filter at the back of the unit. This pre-filter captures larger particles like dust and hair, prolonging the lifespan of the HEPA filter.

The pre-filter is screwed in with twist screws, so you can easily unscrew it when you want to vacuum it and wash it with water or a damp cloth.

Now, if you are reading about the Blast Mini because you’re considering it to help you tackle issues with VOCs or smells, be aware that Smart Air doesn’t provide an Activated Carbon filter as standard. 

That means you will have to purchase Smart Air’s VOC filter as an optional extra. 

In the words of Smart Air, “Purifier companies have a financial incentive to convince people to buy carbon filters.” In their view, consumers should only buy a carbon filter if they truly need it.

The Blast Mini cleared our test room in 15 minutes

The large body of the Blast Mini hides a heavy-duty motor with a centripetal “squirrel cage” fan that can quickly move a lot of air through the HEPA filter.

Now we’ve come to the good part: how this air purifier performs in the real world. 

If you visit Smart Air’s YouTube channel, you’ll see videos of them testing the performance of their air purifiers in translucent domes. We don’t have a translucent dome, and we guess you don’t either.

So, we tested the Blast Mini in an actual room to see how fast it could clear our 728-cubic-feet test room of airborne pollutants we generated by lighting an incense stick. We turned the Blast Air on at full speed and monitored each stage of our test using two indoor sensors, our Purpleair Touch and PurpleAir Zen, which provided us with updates on PM1.0 Ug/m3, PM2.5 Ug/m3, and PM10.0 ug/m3 levels in real-time.

With a fan of this size, I expected great results from the Blast Mini but the data still managed to surprise me. This unit cleared our simulated airborne contaminants from our home lab in an astonishing 15 minutes.

This placed the Blast Mini at the top of our leaderboard: it is the fastest air purifier we ever tested. You can see in the chart below how it compared to the top 10 fastest units we’ve tested;

The closest units are the Levoit EverestAir and the AirDoctor AD3000, both of which trail behind the Blast Min by just two minutes.

Fan speed test results

The cleaning performance of an air purifier depends on two factors: how good the filter is and how much air the unit pushes through it. Basically, the more power a unit has, the more clean air it can circulate in your room.

We used an anemometer to measure air speed when running our Blast Mini at each fan speed:.

Our data shows that at its lowest speed, the Blast Air pushes out an average of 0.55m of air per second (m/s). At medium fan speed, it pushes 1.6 m/s on average and at its highest speed, it pushes an average of 2.6 m/s.

Noise levels test results

As part of our tests, we also measured the noise levels generated by the Blast Mini at each of its fan speeds while standing 3 ft. away from it.

Because of the size and power of the fan in this unit, you can’t expect it to be “whisper” quiet, but it’s by no means loud. 

At its lowest speed, you will hear the hum of the motor at 44.9 dB, and as you crank it up, it reaches 56.3 dB, which is about the sound of a conversation — pretty outstanding considering the average decibels at the highest speed across all the units we’ve tested sit at 64 dB.

I know that sound can be subjective, so it is worth listening to the noise generated by the Blast Mini  with your own ears to decide if it is too noisy for you:

Here’s how the Blast Mini compares to other units in noise output, cleaning speed and initial price. 

The cost to run a Smart Air Blast Mini: $285.29 per year

1. Electricity costs = $136.29 per year

When choosing the right air purifier for your home, you need to consider a few more things besides the size of your space and your taste in design. You need to think about how much it will cost to run, especially with ever-rising electricity prices worldwide.

That is why we used an energy monitor to measure how much electricity in watts the Smart Air Blast Mini consumes when running at each of its fan speeds.

Our data shows that the Blast Mini isn’t the most efficient air purifier. 

We clocked its highest usage at 122.7 watts, which is quite substantial. But that’s when running at its top fan speed, which you are unlikely to need to use for long periods of time. It’s recommended that you keep an air purifier on 24/7/365, but keeping the Blast Mini running at full speed for that long would be pointless and wasteful in most situations.

On its lowest setting, this unit pulls around 51.9 watts, which is still a lot compared to air purifiers with similar cleaning performance. For example, the Levoit EverestAir cleared our home lab in 14 minutes yet only pulls 69.8 watts at full fan speed.

2. Filter costs = $149 per year (HEPA only) or $236.99 (HEPA + VOC filter)

Another cost to consider is replacing the filters. The filter is the most important part of your air purifier; without it, you just have a fan in a box circulating polluted air. As HEPA filters work by trapping these pollutants, they become full and less effective over time. That’s why they need replacing.

Even though Smart Air has redesigned their H13 HEPA filters for the Blast Mini, making them lighter and more environmentally friendly, they still come with a high price tag:

The cost increases if you get the HEPA and the VOC filter, which I highly recommend you do:

Use the table below to see how the long-term costs of running a Smart Air Blast Mini compare to other large air purifiers:

Bottom line: Is the Blast Mini worth it?

A high-performance, quiet air purifier ideal for classrooms, offices and commercial spaces.

Smart Air has stepped up the game when it comes to CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate). The Smart Air Blast Mini shows us what’s possible when you use a high-performance motor in your unit. It outperformed units like the Alen BreatheSmart 75i and the IQAir Healthpro Plus, saving you a couple of hundred dollars on the price.

Unfortunately, the high-performance motor does come with its own cost: the cost of electricity to run it. But the fact that filters can last up to 13 months, will save you money.

All in all, I really like what Smart Air is trying to achieve with the Blast Mini. It’s quiet yet performed incredibly well in our performance test. It’s easy to operate, built to last, and has wheels that make it easy to move around, even if it’s heavy.

If you want a hardworking unit and aren’t concerned about smart features, the Blast Mini might be the right choice. This is especially true if you are buying an air purifier for a large space like an office or a classroom, where keeping noise levels down is important to allow people to focus and concentrate.

Before I close this review, I want to mention how rare it is to find a brand that cares so much about its cause. Smart Air not only engineers its air purifiers for maximum cleaning performance but also dedicates their time, money and energy to help more people breathe clean air.

They invest 60% of their profits in educating people about air pollution, 20% in running experimental tests to contribute first-hand knowledge to the air quality community, and the remaining 20% into bringing clean air to people in need around the world.

We need more companies like Smart Air.